Breaking Down & Building Up
by AdamosLilCowgirl
Summary: My new Marco story about a buncha stuff. Just check it out, k? Slash!
1. Chapter 1

Hey peoples. New story...it's gonna be short, but fun! You'll see pairings later. Slash! YaY! Here goes nothing--

Don't own it. Never owned it. Never will own it.

"M-Marco…" The older man still remembered the day poor little Tim had shown up on his doorstep, battered and bruised, physically and emotionally. His cheeks were tearstained and red; his voice quivery and muffled by sobs. Marco had opened the door and immediately pulled him into a hug: Marco himself was experienced in this particular field knew after a few flashbacks from his own disastrous coming out to his father and it was the only thing that would calm him down.

"Shhh," he comforted the panicked boy, "it's okay…shhh,"

His mother, hearing the ruckus in the kitchen, decided to investigate.

"Marco, what's—oh…" she stopped herself mid-sentence; noticing the crying boy her son was comforting.

"I'm gonna skip dinner, ma…I'll be back down in a few," he said, leading a much calmer Tim upstairs to his own room.

"Tim," Marco shut his bedroom door and locked it, "What happened?" He sat beside the upset boy on his checkered bedspread.

"I d-did it, Marco," he sniffled before letting another tear roll down his cheek, "I t-told him,"

Marco was silent as he rubbed Tim's lower back soothingly.

"I j-just told him the truth: who I am," he looked Marco in the eye, "And do you know what he did? He kicked me out, Marco! Now I have no where to go," he got up and paced the floor, "What am I going to do? Oh, God…I-I…"

"Shhh, calm down," Marco pulled the younger boy down once again, pulling him close and trying to cool him down for the second time in thirty minutes. "As for a place to stay, you're welcome to settle down here for as long as you need to. You **are** going to have to at least go **talk** to your dad. It's the only way you'll work through this," he sighed, "I'm glad you came here. It tells me you know that I'm here for you. Whatever, whenever you need me I'm here. You can call me at 3 in the morning and I would be thrilled! I've been through this before, and I know exactly how you feel. Calm down…I'm here, alright?"

Tim sniffled and the smallest smile shone through his tears, "How do you do this Marco? Stay so calm, even through everything you've been through?"

"Well," Marco got up slowly, sauntering towards his desk. "When I was your age, I had my own 'Yoda'. Actually, he was a little more than just a 'Yoda'…" Marco opened a drawer and took a medium-sized framed picture from its depths. He held it for a moment himself before handing it to Tim.

"Wait," Tim looked excitedly at Marco, "This is-"

"Dylan Mikalchuck, forward for the Maple Leafs, yes. He was my Yoda,"

"Wow. So you guys went out?" Tim seemed to be forgetting his own problems, so no matter how hard it was, Marco kept talking.

"Yeah, we did. Then came Eric…." Marco remembered how much it had hurt him to see Dylan with that lame excuse for a man.

"He cheated on you!" Tim jumped up, ready to slug Dylan even if he was an amazing hockey player.

"Yep," Marco sighed once again and put the piece of the past back into the bottom of the drawer where it belonged.

"Why would somebody cheat on you? God, if you're not perfect, I don't know who is," Tim said, moving closer and closer to the still standing Marco.

Old habits returned as a fierce blush rose to Marco's olive cheeks, greeted by a sideways smile. "Oh, c'mon,"

"No, I'm serious," Tim looked down and laughed, "I'm really lucky to have you as my Yoda,"

Marco couldn't take it anymore. He ran a hand up and back down the smaller boy's arm slowly, before placing a hand to cup his cheek. He placed an innocent kiss on Tim's lips and wiped a last tear off his face. "No more tears?" he smiled.

"No more tears," Tim agreed as Marco went to unlock the door. "Thank you, Marco…thank you so much for everything,"

Marco just laughed and remembered. Two years ago he had been the one saying that to a male version of Paige. He shuddered. Disturbing thought.

Like? Good. Now review! Muwah ha ha ha! Ciao--Liz :)


	2. Chapter 2

I got some great reviews from the first chapter! Thank you guys! (one with which I redid my whole story..the chap. after this one might take a while..lol! it'll be better, though) Hope you like this one, too:)

"Hey Paige!" Dylan burst through the door without a moment's thought. He was extremely happy to be home, with a week off from hockey and university.

"Hey Mr. Big Shot," Paige sarcastically greeted the elder Mikalchuck with a hug.

"God, I've missed this house! I've missed everybody," he looked around, his smile vanishing, "Speaking of everyone…"

"Gone to the grocery store. They're getting Reese cups, especially for you." She laughed. Only she knew her brother's true weakness.

"Yes," he put his bag down by the couch and took a seat, "Have you talked to…um…anyone lately?" Dylan tried not to be obvious. Unfortunately, he was pretty darn bad at it.

"Yes, my dearest Dylan, I have talked to your ex, whose heart you ripped out of his chest and threw to the crows, lately." Paige took a seat next to Dylan. She loved her brother dearly, but still couldn't understand what made him cheat.

"Hey! I…fine. You got me. What has he said? Anything about me?" He was dying to know.

"Maybe…maybe not. Actually, he's been pretty busy lately. You'd be proud," Paige picked up an old Cosmo lying on the coffee table and nonchalantly flipped through it.

"What do you mean?" Dylan further prodded the question.

"Well, there's this new guy at school, Tim. He's a grade 10 and Marco's sort of mentoring him, you know, like you did for him."

Dylan seemed sort of hurt by this. He sat back, stared at the wall, and thought for a second.

"You okay?" Paige looked up from her magazine.

"If you want to know the truth…no," he sort of snapped back into reality. "I was going to apologize this week. I had a whole plan and everything…"

"And your problem is…" Paige said sarcastically.

"Tim! Hello, earth to my sister!" Dylan said impatiently.

"Dylan. Geesh, hon, listen for a sec, okay? Marco helped Tim come out to his dad. That's all. There's nothing stopping you,"

"But Marco hasn't even-" Dylan thought.

"He did. You weren't around for that, though, were you? When he came over here at 3 am crying his little eyes out you weren't here. And, where were you again? Oh yeah, out getting drunk after a game."

"Paige, I…I'm not going to deal with this right now. I'll be up in my room if you need me," Dylan frustratedly snatched his bag and raced up the stairs to his room. Even though he had only been gone a month, he missed his old bed and hockey poster plastered walls. He sauntered over to his desk and pulled a picture out of the drawer. He and Marco at Semi-Formal…hmm, that was a fun night. He traced his finger down the side of the photo as a giddy grin spread across his face. He had to do it; Dylan knew it now.

Muah ha ha ha/ Now, I leave you for around two weeks probably. I'm going to be swamped with WINTERGUARD! AHH! sorry...spaz. :) Ciao for now, Liz :)


	3. Chapter 3

"Marco, I don't know if I can do this," Tim stated nervously.

"Yes, yes you can. I'm here for backup and if your dad gets too out of hand your mom said she'd calm him down. Trust me, I had to do this on my own. It's a lot easier with two," he smiled. "You ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," he sighed, getting out of the car.

The boys walked up the pathway, Tim in the lead. He rang the doorbell. Thankfully, his mom answered.

"Tim! Oh, God," she embraced her son; mothers usually were the first to accept a person.

"Mom, t-this is M-Marco," he stuttered out of nervousness. She turned to the older man. "Thank you, Marco. Thank you for everything. You have to understand, this is extremely difficult for us—"

"I know. I've been through it too. If you ever want to talk, my ma would be happy to help, as would I. We're always here when you need us Mrs.—"

"Oh, call me Stacey. Anything with the prefix Mrs.-sounds old!" she laughed trying to lighten the mood. Judging by the still terrified look on Tim's face, it wasn't working.

"Where is he?" the younger boy asked his mother.

"In the living room. Be careful, honey," his mother followed both the boys in.

"Dad?" Tim said, mustering all the courage he could find.

"Tim? God, I was so worried," he hopped up off the couch and pulled his son into a tight hug, taking everyone in the room by surprise.

"Dad…what…what happened to the—"

"I've been thinking. You're my son…none of that will ever change! It's just…well…it's going to take some time,"

"Wow…yeah…that's all I ask," he scratched his head and smiled at his father.

"Who's your friend?" he gestured towards Marco.

"Him? Oh, yeah, dad…this is Marco del Rossi. Marco, my dad."

"It's nice to meet you, sir." Marco shook the elder man's hand.

"Same here. Would you care to stay for dinner tonight, Marco?"

"Actually, dad…Marco and I were going to go to the DOT tonight. If that's okay, of course,"

"Sure. Be careful, though."

"We will," Tim headed towards the door followed by Marco, "I'll be back later,"

Once they were out the door, Marco threw his arms around Tim.

"Okay you don't know how proud I am of you right now! I think your dad had, like, the best reaction I've ever—ever—seen. And our food tonight? It's on me. You deserve it,"

"Thanks, Marco. I wouldn't have done any of it without you, though." Tim looked almost embarrassed.

"Yeah, sure you would. Probably would've happened later, but you would have done it." He patted the younger boy's back before getting into his side of his dark green jeep. They pulled out of the driveway and headed to the DOT.

"So," Marco asked, sipping on his diet coke. "What else has been going on?"

"Hmmm, I **have** been talking to this guy at school," he said with a shy smile.

"Oooh, a guy," Marco prodded.

"Yeah. His name's James and he's pretty cute, if I do say so myself."

"Really? Is he interested?" he asked, his little mind already stirring up a storm.

"I think so, yeah," Tim tried to hide his smile, but it was becoming more and more evident. "He gave me his number and winked Friday…"

"Wow! A number and a wink. Nice," he laughed.

"Yeah. I really like him, you know?" he stirred his drink around with his straw.

"Then what are you waiting for? Call him!" Marco insisted. He didn't want to rush his friend, but if you like a guy…hey! Why not go for it?

"Ah, I don't know. Maybe I will later…not right now, though..." he said, rather nervously.

"Why not? As long as he doesn't have a boyfriend…" Marco asked, "He doesn't, does he?"

"No," Tim laughed, "I'm just…nervous."

"Come on. Don't be,"

"Uh-oh," Another guy walked up to the table. He was tall and muscular…he had straight, darker hair and very pretty hazel eyes.

"Tim? Hey! Who's this?" the guy asked a very nervous Tim.

"Hi James…this is…my, uh…friend Marco. We were just talking, do you want to join us?"

Noticing the look on James's face, Marco had an idea. "Actually, I have to go. You two go ahead, talk," Marco got up and headed to the counter where Craig was talking to Spinner. "Craig!" he said loudly so that James could here him. "There's my honey bunny!" he gave him a very big hug and whispered something in his ear.

"Oh," Craig said rather uncomfortably. "Yeah, so… um, we still on for tonight?"

Of course, Marco felt bad about putting Craig in that kind of position, but he had to make sure things would work for Tim and James, simply because that's the kind of guy he is.


	4. Chapter 4

Hi guys. Bet your wondering why I did two chapters tonight, eh? Well, it's cause I'm ending this one. I hate the way I wrote the last chapters, and I hate not having tim e to fix them, but I don't. So..here. Try to enjoy...even through it sucks. major. /

After Tim and James had been talking for about fifteen minutes, Marco decided to leave. As he was walking out the door, he bumped into a tall stranger.

"Oh, sorry," he said, only taking a quick glance at the man.

"Marco?" he said, restraining him lightly.

"D-Dylan? What are you doing back?" he asked, a bit taken aback.

"Week off from Uni. I don't mean to sound frank, but are you up for coffee or something? I'd really like a chance to talk, after what happened and all."

"Um…okay," Marco began, "Your car or mine?"

"We can take mine," he smiled and led the way to the cherry red with black stripes convertible Marco knew oh so well. They both got in—Marco noticed the car hadn't lost its scent…one of leather and comfort—and Dylan popped a CD in the player. A second or two later, "Photograph" was playing softly through the speakers. Marco gave a little giggle as he noticed a picture Dylan had kept on the dash.

"You still have this?" he asked.

"Oh, that?" Dylan blushed a bit, "Yeah…it actually hasn't left that spot since…"

"I know. Speaking of that, how's Eric?" he asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm Dylan didn't pick up.

"I wouldn't know. I broke up with him that night," Dylan answered without a bit or remorse in his tone.

"You…why?" Marco was stunned.

"If you must know…it was you. After seeing you at the party, I couldn't handle it. I realized exactly how much I hurt you. I never got a chance to say it, but I'm sorry. So, so sorry…"

"I…God, Dyl. All I want to know is why? Why did you cheat on me? Why Eric?" Marco had so many questions—**too** many questions.

"If I knew the answer to those questions, I would have apologized a long time ago. I love you, cariad,"

A sharp pain stabbed at Marco, hearing Dylan say that word again killed him. He knew what could make it better, though.

"I…I…" Marco stuttered reluctantly before looking Dylan in his gray eyes, "love you, too…" A smile eased its way onto Dylan's face as he placed a hand over Marco's. The boys came closer and closer, until finally meeting in the middle. Sparks flew, trumpets sounded, bells rung…whatever you want to call it, **love happened**. Again.


End file.
